Those who say "You can't" are wrong; he cultivates pure saffron and milk thistle at home and consumes them.

In the Yüksekova district of Hakkari, 20-year veteran farmer Kerim Erişmiş is enjoying the taste of saffron and salep, two of the world's most expensive plants, despite those who said, "It won't grow here, you won't succeed." Usually growing wild on high-altitude mountain slopes, salep and climate-sensitive saffron have found life this time in the vast Yüksekova plain. The 52-year-old experienced farmer Kerim Erişmiş ignored the advice from his surroundings two years ago, who said, "Don't bother, these crops won't take in this climate, you won't succeed," and turned his field into an innovation center. The experimental process, which patiently blended Erişmiş's 20 years of farming experience, yielded a tremendous result recently. Having successfully completed his first harvest, Erişmiş now steeps the saffron he picked with his own hands and cooks his salep. Kerim Erişmiş said, "I believed in the strength of my soil. I persisted and succeeded. Now, sipping my saffron tea in the ...